JPS59143492A - Remote controller having operating part at steering wheel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a highly reliable remote controller by modulating light from a light emitting element arranged on a car body side by an operating part on a steering wheel through an optical guide and transmitting the modulating light to a photodetecting element on the car body side through the optical guide. CONSTITUTION:The LED41 fitted to the car body side is driven by an LED driving signal generating circuit 43 and a transistor (TR) 42 to emit light. The emitted light is inputted to an optical switch 21 fitted to the steering wheel through an optical fiber 61. When an operation lever 22 does not shield the light, the light is inputted to an optical fiber 71 through the switch 21 and inputted to a phototransistor 51 arranged on the car body side. Receiving the light, the TR51 is turned on, a relay 53 is driven by a driving TR52 and electric power is supplied to a load 54. If the switch 21 is actuated and the light is shielded, the TR51 is disabled not to apply electric power to the load 54.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an operating section with an extremely simple structure that outputs a control signal to a steering wheel of an automobile, and from the operating section,
This invention relates to a remote control device that makes it possible to control the supply of electric power to a load installed on the vehicle body.

Conventionally, the mounting space in the steering wheel part is narrow, and sliding contacts must be used for signal transmission between the steering wheel rotation system, the power supply control device, and the vehicle body side where the load is installed. Due to the limited wiring space, remote control devices that had an operating section installed in the steering wheel only had an essential function, such as a horn operating function.
In order to improve these shortcomings, we installed a compact active circuit in the operating section and adopted a system that uses multiple modulation methods such as pulse code modulation and time division modulation to perform 8-8 transmission on the receiver's neck side. , the circuit is complicated and a large number of 815 parts are required.

Therefore, the present invention was made to improve these drawbacks, and by making the operation section and the communication channel provided on the steering wheel extremely simple in structure, space is saved. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a remote control device that has a large number of operation switches on the steering wheel and is resistant to noise.

That is, the present invention includes a light emitting element installed on the vehicle body side and converting an electrical signal into an optical signal, an outgoing light guide path section guiding the light emitted from the light emitting element to the steering wheel, and a light emitting element installed on the steering wheel. an operating section that inputs light from the outgoing light guide path section and performs optical modulation by controlling the amount of light passing through the input light in accordance with an external operation; A return light guide section for transmitting light (No. 1) to the vehicle body is provided on the vehicle body side, is connected to the output end of the return light guide section, and receives the optical signal output from the This is a remote control device that is characterized by comprising a light receiving element that converts signals into signals.

FIG. 1 illustrates the concept of the present invention using a 71-piece diadem. A light emitting element 4o that converts an electrical signal into an optical signal is provided on the vehicle body side 3o. Any light emitting element 40 may be used as long as it emits light in response to an electric signal. For example, a light emitting diode, a semiconductor laser, an electroluminescent element, etc. are used.

The light emitted from the light emitting element 40 propagates through the outgoing light guide section 6o and is input to the operating section 20 provided on the steering wheel 1o. This outgoing light guide section 60 is generally constructed of an optical fiber. The optical fiber has propagation properties for the spectrum of light emitted from the light emitting element 40. An operation unit 20 provided on the steering wheel 10 is configured to allow input of control information from the outside.

That is, it has operation switches and the like. By controlling this operation switch from the outside, the claw of the light that propagates through the 11-way light guide section 60 and enters can be controlled, thereby modulating the parent of the light that is to be passed to the return light guide section 7o. It's Otsu's. The simplest explanation is that the operating state allows 100% of the light to pass through, whereas the non-operating state does not completely block the passing light. Further, it is also possible to provide a plurality of levels for the amount of passing light and modulate the light intensity in multiple stages. Further, when the operation section is composed of a die/full switch or a sensor, it may be one that modulates the amount of passing light in an analog manner.

The passing light is transmitted through the return light guide section 70 and input to the light receiving element 50 provided on the vehicle body side 30.

The return light guide section 70 is composed of the same optical fiber as the outbound light guide section 60 in the previous section (e). The light-receiving element 550 may be any device as long as it converts light into an electrical signal.

A photoelectric conversion element sensitive to the spectrum of light emitted by the light-emitting element 40, such as a photo-tied Δ-de, a phototransistor, or a CdS photoconductive layer, is used.

The present invention is a knee control device having such a configuration.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to specific embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a spider 1 hemlock 1 neck attachment according to a specific embodiment of the present invention. It is composed of 40 light emitting elements and a light emitting diode 1-''-41.
I"l is connected to the voltage 5 pin 1 ~ terminal. On the other hand, the shade of the light emitting diode 41 (~ is the driving transistor/1
2 collector. Drive 1 ~ Runsista 4
The base end of 2 is connected to an LED drive signal generation 9'' circuit 43.The light emitted from the light emitting diode 41 is transmitted to the vehicle body and the operating section 20 provided on the steering wheel.
The optical fiber coupler 61 constituting the outgoing light guide section 60 connecting the two is transmitted and inputted to the input end of the operating section 20 . The operation unit 20 is provided with an optical switch 21 and is equipped with a J3 switch.
Operate the operating lever 22 of the light switch 21 in the direction of the arrow,
By avoiding moving the light blocking member 23, the light can be passed through or passed through. The output end of the optical switch 21 is connected to an optical fiber 71 forming the return light guide section 70, and the output end of the optical fiber 71 is connected to the PN junction of the A transistor 51 forming the light receiving element 50. . Further, the collector of the resistor 51 is connected to the positive electrode of the swing battery 55. The emitter facet of the phototransistor 51 is connected to the base end of the drive transistor 52, the collector of the drive transistor 52 is connected to the field coil of the relay 53, and the field=1 coil 53 is supplied with power from the vehicle battery 55. Further, the relay contact 53a of the relay 53 constitutes a contact for supplying power to the load 5/l.

The above is the configuration of one specific embodiment of the present invention.

Next, I will explain its effect.

When no signal is applied by the LED drive signal generation circuit 43, the transistor 42 is activated and the light emitting diode 41 emits light. The emitted light is transmitted through the optical Noah/Iba 61 and the optical switch 2
Input to the input terminal of 2. When the operating lever 22 of the optical switch 21 is not blocking light, the amount of light passing through is approximately 1
00%, the optical fiber 71 is transmitted, and the fibers A1-1-
Runsista! :) Input to the P N junction of 1. The phototransistor 51 receives light and turns on.
-Mitter gasping voltage is high. Therefore, the base end of the driving l-run transistor 52 becomes high level, and the driving transistor 52 is activated. When this occurs, current flows through the excitation coil 53 of the relay, and the relay contact 53a becomes open.

For this reason, the load 54 is supplied with power from the on-vehicle variety 55.

On the other hand, when the light switch 21 is operated to block the transmitted light, the light emitted by the light emitting diode 41 [well, the light switch 2
1, and no light is transmitted to the optical fiber 71. Therefore, the phototransistor 51 becomes inactive,
Transistor 52 enters the Δoff state. Therefore, the load 54 is not supplied with electric power (j).

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram when the optical switch 21 is arranged on the steering wheel. Steering 11\Eel 1
0 consists of a ring 11, spokes 12, and a boss 13 provided at the center thereof. The optical switch 21 is connected to the boss 13
I am 41 years old. Further, in this case, the optical switch 21 is not limited to a single optical switch, but a plurality of optical switches can be opened.

FIG. 4 shows an example of an optical fiber cable. Optical fiber cables consist of a plurality of single fibers, which are connected in the form of a flat tape to form a plurality of channels.

FIG. 5 shows another specific example of an optical switch. The optical switch 21 has a metal frame 23 and a rubber elastic member 24 attached to the bottom plate of the frame.

An optical fiber couple 61 for optical transmission and an optical fiber cable 71 facing each other with a space d3 in between are provided on the upper end surface of the rubber elastic member 24. , above which an operation panel 25 is arranged in a window 2G provided in the frame 23,
1 operation panel 25 has an optical fiber cable 61.71
is fixed in contact with a part of the opposing surface end. Here, when the operation panel 25 is not operated, the light 11 enters from the fiber cable 61 and passes through the optical fiber cable 71. On the other hand, when the operation panel 25 is pushed down, the rubber elastic member 2/1 is deformed, and the optical fiber cables 61, 71 are accordingly curved into a hyperbolic shape. Therefore, the light propagated through the optical fiber pulley 61 does not propagate to the optical fiber cable 71. Therefore, light will be blocked. When using such an optical switch, it is desirable to provide a signal storage circuit such as a flip-flop circuit on the receiving device side. That is, suppression of the operation panel 25 means generation of a negative light pulse.

Various modifications of the above-mentioned optical transmission formula 13 are possible. First, in this method, we are talking about 100% optical modulation.
It is also possible to set up multiple levels and perform optical modulation in multiple stages. In this case, multiple control signals can be sent out with a single light guide. Also, sensors can be used instead of optical switches. may be provided, and optical modulation may be performed in an analog manner according to the output of the sensor.

Roughly speaking, it is not necessary for the LED drive signal generation circuit 43 to constantly output a voltage in a step function manner; instead, it outputs a synchronization signal with a constant period and synchronizes the light emitting diode Δ-de with this. It is also possible to avoid emitting light in a pulsed manner. Then, the light receiving section may be configured to receive -C light in synchronization with the synchronization signal and to reduce signal processing.

With this configuration, it is possible to save light emission power.

In summary, the present invention provides a steering wheel with a light modulation element which is an operation section, and guides light emitted from a light emitting element provided on the vehicle body side to the operation section using a light guide path. By transmitting the modulated light to the light-receiving element on the vehicle body side using the same light guide path, signal transmission is possible, which in turn controls the power supply to the load on the vehicle body side.

Therefore, since the device of the present invention has an extremely simple operation section and signal transmission system, it can be easily installed even in a portion of the small steering wheel where mounting space is limited. or,
Because it uses light as a signal transmission medium, it has the advantage of being resistant to noise. Since the steering wheel does not use an FJJ element, it is highly reliable and there is no need to transmit power to the steering wheel. Furthermore, there is no need to take measures to prevent chattering. Since the switch is non-contact, it does not have the disadvantages of noise or deterioration.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram representing the concept of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a configuration diagram of a remote control head according to an integrated embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating how to attach the operating section to the steering wheel used in the same example.
The figure shows a specific example of the optical fiber cable used in the same example. FIG. 5 (1) There is a sectional view C of the configuration of another specific optical switch. 10...Steering wheel 20...Operation unit 40...Light emitting element 50.
... Light-receiving element 60 ... Outgoing light guide section 70 ...
・Return light guide section special i'F applicant Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. agent Patent attorney Hirodo Okawa Patent attorney Shudo Fujitani Patent attorney Akio Maruyama

Claims (1)

[Claims] A light emitting element provided on the vehicle body side that converts an electrical signal into an optical signal, an outgoing light guide section that guides the light emitted from the light emitting element to the steering wheel, and a light guide section that is installed on the steering wheel and passes through the outgoing light guide section. An operating section that inputs light and adjusts the luminous intensity by controlling the amount of light passing through the input light in response to external operations, and an operating section that is connected to the output end of the operating section and sends a signal of the passing light from the operating section to the vehicle body. It is characterized by comprising a return light guide section for transmission, and a light receiving element provided on the vehicle body side, connected to the output end of the return light guide section, and receiving the optical signal outputted therefrom and converting it into an electrical signal. remote control device.